


The Scars of my Son, The Pain you have Done

by familymatters



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood and Injury, Bullying, Burns, Cuts, Family Feels, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Lies, Major Character Injury, Scars, Secrets, scratches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:20:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24975214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/familymatters/pseuds/familymatters
Summary: Sky day: ScarsHer son has been lying to her about his scars for years. She refused to let him get away with it again.
Relationships: Sawada Nana & Sawada Tsunayoshi
Kudos: 43
Collections: KHR Rare Pair Week 2020





	The Scars of my Son, The Pain you have Done

**Age 5**

Her son came running up to her as soon as he spotted her. He was playing alone again. It was rare that she ever saw him playing with someone. Maybe he played with kids in school but he didn’t talk to her about it.

Nana ran her fingers through her son's soft hair. “Mama’s here Tsu-kun”

He buried his face in her pants leg and held on tight. He was quieter than usual. He would usually run up to her shouting ‘Mama Mama, Tsu-kun missed you!” And then he would tug her down so he could get a kiss.

“Let Mama see Tsu-kun’s face.”

He shook his head and tried to bury his face deeper on her leg. Nana, feeling worried now, gently pried his fingers from her legs and kneeled down to get a better look at him. She gasped at the deep and wide scratches that went from his left ear across his cheek to the corner of his nose.

“What happened!”

He didn’t speak right away.

She stopped herself from shaking him. “Tsu-kun, what happened?”

Tears gathered at the corner of his eyes and spilled down his cheeks. He winced as the droplets touched the scratches. “Tsu-kun- no, I fell Mama. I wanna go home.”

He wasn’t calling himself Tsu-kun anymore. She felt her heart break at that. Someone must have done something to her baby. She hugged him then gently wiped his tears, stood up, and took his hand.

“Let Mama speak to your teachers first.”

The teachers were no help; they only repeated what her son said. ‘He fell’ they said to her. It’s what the other student told the teachers. None of the teachers saw what happened but they assumed he fell because he’s usually clumsy.

She didn’t think he fell.

The scratches mostly healed but it left a scar from his ear to less than an inch across his cheek that wouldn’t go away.

**Age 8**

They were in the dressing room trying on new clothes for the upcoming trip they were going on.

“Try this one on next.” She handed the next outfit to him when he opened the door to give her the rejected outfit.

“Okay Mama.” He chirped and happily took the new clothes.

Her son was growing into such a handsome and kind boy. He would help her around the kitchen and she was teaching him how to cook. He was quiet but he would get so excited to tell her about the things he loved. He didn’t speak about school anymore. Now it was only ‘school was fine’ when she asked then he would talk about something else or stay silent.

She noticed over the years that her son had many little scratches appearing on him, On his arms, his legs, his chest and back. Most of them could be explained away as trips and falls or minor accidents of being a child and many of them faded. This one was more difficult to explain away.

On his leg there were jagged cuts in a circle that looked like someone pressed a broken bottle into his skin. She didn’t know how she couldn’t have noticed it before. It was healed, like it happened a while ago but it was the first time she was seeing it. She only spotted it as she was handing him the clothes.

“Tsuna, what happened to your leg? How did you get that scar?” She asked.

There was silence and she thought he didn’t hear her but then the door opened and he peeked out from behind the door.

“I fell.” He mumbled.

He didn’t look her in the eyes.

That was his automatic answer to the reason for all his injuries.

She decided to push him. Hoping this time she would get an answer. “It looks like you fell on some glass Tsu-kun.” 

His hand quickly went to where the scar was and his eyes widened. He probably didn’t know she was talking about that scar. She tried to keep calm so he wouldn’t startle and refuse to tell the truth. 

It was possible that he really fell, she did see him trip over air multiple times, but she didn’t believe that. He looked afraid, like someone would hurt him if he told her the truth.

“I fell Mama, honest. There was a broken bottle on the ground and I fell on that.” He still didn’t look her in the eyes.

“Okay Tsu-kun, I believe you.” She was lying too.

She connected him not talking about school anymore, the scars littering his body, and the fear in his eyes and came to a decision.

She moved him to a new school for the new school year. She didn’t see any new scars on him for a long time after that.

  
  


**Age 11**

Her son tried to walk in the house silently but the click of the door closing and the uneven sounds of his footsteps alerted her.

“Tsu-kun, come see Mama before you go upstairs.” She called out.

She didn’t think she could hear reluctance in footsteps but that is exactly what she heard. Dragging feet and slow steps, he didn’t want to be seen but she  _ had _ to see him.

He came into the living room with his head down and had his right hand holding his scarf to his left arm tightly. There was what could be water from the snow but was more likely beads of sweat on his forehead. He moved his left arm only a little and immediately closed his eyes and she saw him take a deep breath before opening them again. 

“What’s wrong with your arm Tsu-kun? Come closer and let me see.”

He looked at his arm and she could see him estimating the distance from his spot near the entryway of the kitchen to her spot on the couch.

It hurt to see her son in so much pain that he didn’t even want to move in fear of causing himself more pain.

“Stay right there. I’ll come to you instead.”

Nana walked over to him and the smell of blood grew stronger the closer she got to him. She gently took his arm in her hand. “May I?” He didn’t look at her as he nodded. 

Tsuna moved the scarf, that she now saw was covered in blood, away from his arm and she finally saw what he was covering. A slow trickle of blood dripped down his arm from the jagged cuts there.

She didn’t waste any more time and rushed him to the hospital. He received 24 stitches.

When she asked him what happened he only responded that he slipped on some ice and fell on some glass.

She could see clearly when the wounds were all cleaned and stitched up that the way the ‘glass’ carved into his skin spelled だめ, dame.

He did not fall. He wouldn’t tell her the truth.

Even when the stitches were removed those wounds left scars in her son’s skin. He would have to see those words carved in his skin every waking moment. 

She brought him leather cuffs to cover it up, it was the least she could do since he wouldn’t say who did this to him.

He wore them every day.

  
  


**Age 14**

Her son had friends.

One day it was just him and then the next it was a group of them. He had friends and he loved them fiercely and they loved him too.

She was happy for him and yet those scars that he thought she didn’t notice kept piling up. Burns and cuts on his hands, faded scars on his back and arms, 

She thought it was his friends doing it to him but some of them had similar scars. Plus the way they looked at her son, like he hung the stars in the sky and the sun only shines when he was around, she knew they would do their best to make sure no harm came to him. That doesn’t mean she was any less worried.

They were together cleaning the kitchen after dinner. It’s been a long time but it was just the two of them. The other three kids she adopted were up in their rooms, Reborn, the tutor she got for her son, was out for the day. None of her son’s many friends were over either. It was just them and she had to talk to him. 

Especially about his hands. Both new and old cuts and burns kept appearing on his hands. When she thought the old one healed, new ones would appear. Her son was getting used to them. The new ones didn’t even make him flinch.

She decided to bring it up while handing dishes to Tsuna for him to dry. “Your hands are burned again.”

“Oh I just burned them while cooking.” He said casually, not even stopping while drying.

All these years that she has had her son to herself he had been helping her out around the house and learning to cook from her. He didn’t cook as often but he could do it and it was good. He never burned his fingers again after the first four months of cooking.

He was lying again.

She had to push him. “I haven’t seen you burn your hands while cooking in years.”

His lies came out smoother this time. “I’ve been teaching a friend to cook and his results are often explosive. It’s dangerous but I can’t leave him not knowing how to cook.”

It was a lie, she could feel it in her gut that it was a lie and it hurt that her son would lie to her about something that hurts him over and over.

“I believe you.”

She didn’t know how but, his hands healed and almost all of the scars were gone. There were still faint ones on the back of his hands that she looked at everytime he was near.

  
  


**Age 18**

  
  
  


Her son was home from school for the weekend. Him and his friends decided to stay in dorms at college and her home felt a little empty without everyone coming in everyday. She still had Lambo, I-pin, and Fuuta, but they were doing their own things now and spending more time outside with their friends.

“What brings you here Tsu-kun? Missed your dear old mother?” She teased.

“Yes, I just really missed you.” He muttered while absentmindedly placing his hand on his chest, right next to his heart. She could tell that whatever was there was bothering him, it wasn’t the first time he put his hand there.

Her son was taller than her now, having finally hit his growth spurt a year ago, and more charismatic, but he still held that same kindness in him.

She smiled at him. “I missed you too Tsu-kun, it’s not the same without you around.”

She handed him a drink and, using all the subtleness she had, made it look like an accident when she spilled it on him.

“Oh I’m sorry Tsu-kun! Go upstairs and change.”

She ushered him up the steps and, not even five minutes later, she quietly walked up the steps to his room.

She found him staring in the mirror and touching the scar on his chest. He had many more scars than she remembered but the one that worried her the most was that scar on his chest, the one he kept touching. It would not have been much of a problem, especially since it was smaller than most of the others, except it was dangerously close to his heart and there was a matching one on his back. She knew what a bullet wound looked like when she saw it.

“Where did you get that scar?” Nana asked. Her son jumped at her presence, hand going to cover the scar before stopping. 

He turned to her with a smile. “An accident during a science experiment.” He looked her right in the eyes as he told her that lie. And of course he would lie. The lies fell from his lips so easily now. They were almost unnoticeable except, she knew her son. Even though he tried to hide his tells, the way he looked away immediately after telling her this gave him away. She could see how easily he could lie to others but she refused to let him lie to her anymore. 

“Tsu-kun, tell me the truth.” She pleaded.

He tried to feign confusion as he put on his shirt. “It is the truth Mama.”

“Tsunayoshi, I will not accept that lie as an answer.” She was tired of the lies. She would not let him leave until she got an answer she wanted.

She could see the panic in his eyes now. “I-I’m not lying.”

“You’re hiding something from me. You always have been. Why won’t you ever tell me the truth? Tsuna please.”

“BECAUSE I DON’T WANT YOU TO WORRY.” He shouted and she’s never seen him like this. Like he would lose something if he told her the truth she was asking for. He covered his face and let out a shout of frustration.

Nana walked up to him and gently pulled his hands from his face. He still wore those cufflinks she got him but the scar underneath was covered by a tattoo of a lion. He was her little lion and even if he was strong she wanted to help him but she couldn’t do that if he only lied to her.

“ _I am your mother._ I want to worry over you and make sure you’re okay. I want to take care of you. I love you and I don't want to see you hurt but if you are, I want you to come to me so I can care for you. Don’t lie to me. I can’t take any more lies. Tsu-kun, tell me the truth.”

“I was shot by someone I considered an ally. It was a stupid mistake, I trusted them despite what my instincts said because it was nice getting away from everything for a while. It won’t happen again.”

Anger was what she felt towards this person. She finally had someone to direct her anger to for the pain her son has been through even though this person hasn’t caused all of it. She went over all her son’s friends and she didn’t think any of them would do something like that. “Anyone I know?”

He shook his head. “No it’s someone I met in college this year.”

She hummed in confirmation. She was glad it was none of the people her son saw as family that did it. But then why did he get shot? “Anything else you need to tell me?”

He opened his mouth to say something then closed it and shook his head. “I won’t lie to you again mom. I didn’t want you to know but I came too close to dying this time and had to come see you. I’m in the mafia and not just a subordinate to someone in it. I’m the heir to the largest mafia family on Iemitsu’s side.”

Lies. She’s been lied to for years by her husband. She always knew there was something he wasn’t telling her but, she didn’t think it would be this. “Tell me everything and don’t leave out a single detail.”

He smiled at her. “Yes Mama.” There was a weight lifted from his shoulder and she realized that his scars were never only the ones she could see. 

Her son had scars. She always saw the physical scars but she never got to see the mental scars.

Her son had scars and he finally told her about all of them.

**Author's Note:**

> Age 5: Pushed by bullies(worse than that but the basic description). Head bully is a rich donor to the school  
> Age 8: Same bully, digs a broken beaker into Tsuna's skin  
> Age 11: Caught him on his way home from school. Carves Dame into his skin.  
> Age 14: Practicing Hdw mode without the pills and training  
> Age 18: Shot by an ally


End file.
